BL's alternative reality - part 3

Here is the third and final part of my alternative reality that could have seen British Leyland become the pride of Britain with a popular, desirable and well-built range of cars and a world-renowned image, far from the reality of a long-extinct but still tarnished brand and its infamous lineup of failed products. Part 2 took us through the 1980s as the group consolidated the reputation established in the previous decade, so here we take up the story from the 1990s through to the present day with British Leyland still very much alive and well as a dominant force in the global motor industry. Sadly I have no Photoshop skills, otherwise I would create renderings of these cars to illustrate this article as I can picture them in my mind, but read on anyway to see how I envision BL looking today.

BMW really wanted to get their hands on the Range Rover but the Brits said no

In the mid-1990s, struggling against the ever-popular Triumph range and lacking an SUV to compete in this burgeoning market sector, BMW approached British Leyland with a view to a merger, being especially keen to get their hands on Triumph and Land Rover. Despite the favourable deal on offer, this proposal was politely declined as the management were most insistent that the group should remain firmly in British hands with no foreign involvement, as it proudly does to this day. More recently, with the growing importance of the Chinese market, BL has entered into a joint venture with SAIC to build Rover and Jaguar saloons in Shanghai for local sale. The main car plants are all located in the heart of the English Midlands, at Longbridge and Cowley (Austin), Solihull (Rover/Land Rover), Coventry (Jaguar/Daimler), Abingdon (MG) and Canley (Triumph), plus the factory in Washwood Heath responsible for Sherpas and taxis, and Leyland Truck & Bus in Leyland, Lancashire.

Austin's core lineup of Mini, Allegro and Maxi had become household names and an integral part of British culture by the 1990s, with millions of each sold worldwide. Each new generation built on the success of the previous one and continued to develop the famous formula of front-wheel drive and Hydragas that served so well in its various incarnations since the seventies. The K-series proved to be a long-lived and reliable range of engines that would evolve throughout the 1990s and 2000s to meet new regulations and continue to be the main power source for BL products. The XUD however would be phased out around the turn of the century as it no longer met emissions standards. It was replaced by BL's own all-new range of common-rail turbodiesels developed from the K-series, including a bored-out KV6-derived turbodiesel for Land Rover, and sales of diesel Austins received a huge boost following the VAG emissions scandal.

Rover didn't die in 2005 and is still an integral part of the BL empire

An interesting development in the mid 2000s, following the successful application of similar principles to the Range Rover, was the launch of the Vanden Plas personalisation programme for Austin and Rover models, with a bewildering array of options that allow customers to create their own bespoke one-off car at a price. Extensive use of the Vanden Plas catalogue could easily push the cost of a Maxi well into Jaguar territory and these are very much niche products aimed at wealthy buyers wanting something individual. Arrayed below are a variety of models and engine options named in the traditional and well-understood L, HL and HLS hierarchy, from the Austin Mini 1.1 L to the Rover SD5 3.9 HLS.

Triumph retains its established position as Austin's sporting sister brand and has popularised front-wheel drive in sports saloons. The Herald remains BL's contribution to the hot hatch scene while the four-cylinder Vitesse and six-cylinder Vanguard compete in the ever-growing prestige performance saloon market. The ST (Special Tuning) versions are especially desirable as a British alternative to BMW's M-cars and the AMG Mercedes, and are growing ever more powerful with each new model. Land Rover-derived four-wheel drive systems are still offered as an option by Triumph, competing against the Audi Quattro range, and the marque has continued its dominance of both rallying and circuit racing with numerous championship wins now under its belt.

Instead of the MG ZS we would now have the Triumph Vitesse and Vanguard, while the Austin Minor would compete with the Picasso

Multi-purpose vehicles were the big growth area of the 1990s, but the real life Rover Group sadly never had one and missed out on this popular market sector. The spacious Maxi platform was the ideal base for such a car, which became the seven-seat Austin Major and competed effectively with the Renault Espace, Ford Galaxy and the like. This was later joined by the Austin Minor, a five-seat mini-MPV that looked like a scaled-down Major, was based on the Allegro and rivalled Renault's Scenic and Citroen's Picasso, with the success of the Opel Zafira persuading BL to offer an additional seven-seat version of the second-generation Minor. The Vauxhall marque incidentally had disappeared in the late 1970s when General Motors rationalised their European operations and decided there was no point keeping a separate brand just for the UK market.

With the boom in retro cars of the late nineties, the new Mini lost its boxy 1980s styling and harked back to the 1959 original, becoming a massive hit with trendy buyers. The Mini continues to be BL's Fiesta rival, but the growth of cars in recent years meant they needed another model to fit in the new market sector that has emerged below the Mini's class. This is the Austin Metro, a city car based on a shortened Mini platform and available either with a new 800cc three-cylinder K-series petrol engine or the advanced brushless motor and lithium-ion batteries made by BL subsidiary Crompton Electricar, best known for its zero-emission urban delivery vehicles. Crompton Electricar is at the forefront of developing alternative fuel technologies for the next generation of BL cars. which are being thoroughly tested at the group's world-class R&D facility in Gaydon.

The Mini could still look like this but built by BL rather than BMW
(By Thomas doerfer - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2900983)

The Rover SD3 replaced the SD2 and was also given the retro treatment, with lashings of chrome, wood and leather and an emphasis on luxury, but this was less successful as it was seen as too old-fashioned and lost its appeal to the younger generation. The new millennium thus saw the launch of the Triumph Ensign, a big sports saloon based on the SD3 and the first rear-wheel drive Triumph since the early 1970s. The range-topper is the Ensign ST, fitted with a tuned version of the 4.6-litre V8 from the Range Rover and competing head-to-head with the BMW M5 and Audi RS6. Sitting above these as the group flagships are the straight-six Jaguar XJ420 Sovereign and V12 Daimler XJ600 Double Six saloons, which continue BL's long association with providing official transport for the government and the Royal Family.

Rover sales did pick up a bit following the demise of the Ford Scorpio and Opel Omega, but although Jaguar had fought it, rationalisation and platform-sharing became inevitable and the Rover SD4 was built on the same underpinnings as the Jaguar XJ, as was the successor SD5. Despite sales of the seven-seat Countryman version fading thanks to the popularity of the Austin Major, the SD5 estate still has a niche appeal and sells fairly well, especially to those who used to drive big Volvo estates. The saloon however is starting to look increasingly redundant as it is now so similar to the equivalent Jaguar, and the fastback body had disappeared with the SD3 due to waning demand for such cars in the executive class. The SD5 was extensively facelifted a couple of times but is overdue for replacement now and it remains to be seen whether there will be an SD6.

The SD5 estate is a spiritual successor to the big Volvos

Maxi sales took a dive in favour of Land Rover and the Austin Major as private buyers turned away from conventional cars to SUVs and MPVs, while increased freedom in the company car sector led to many users choosing the sporty Triumphs instead. The Maxi is still available though and has begun to recover with the launch of the Crompton Maxi Hybrid, which combines the 1.1 K-series with the Crompton Electricar technology used in the Metro and is a popular home-grown alternative to the Toyota Prius. The Wolseley Six was an unfortunate casualty, squeezed out by Triumph and dropped without replacement thanks to sharply declining sales, but BL insist that the Wolseley name will return when the time is right.

The late 2000s saw the surprise reappearance of Morris as a budget brand to compete with Kia and Dacia, with a new Marina based on the previous-generation Allegro. This is actually built in India for BL by Tata Motors as part of a joint venture that saw BL offer its expertise to Tata after the latter's disastrous attempt to sell its Indica supermini in the UK. Meanwhile, the boom in the new market for crossovers at the same time led to the Austin Champ, a rugged-looking hatchback that took inspiration from Land Rover but is basically a front-wheel drive Allegro with chunky tyres and its Hydragas pumped up to give a greater ride height. There is now a similar Mini-based crossover in development, most likely to be called either the Mini Moke or Clubman.

The Austin Champ would be similar in concept to the Rover Streetwise

The Range Rover has continued to reach upmarket, with the V8 stretched to 4.6 litres and prices eventually breaking the £100,000 barrier. The Discovery grew to fulfil the Range Rover's previous role and moved up onto the SD3/Ensign platform, losing its Hydragas in the process. However, a new smaller SUV appeared in the late nineties in the form of the Freelander, again based on the Maxi platform and continuing the successful combination of Hydragas and 4x4 pioneered on the original Discovery. The Defender is immortal and although crude and outdated continues to appeal to those needing a rugged, go-anywhere vehicle, but Land Rover have also managed to break into the lucrative 4x4 pickup market with the Llama, a four-wheel drive version of the Leyland Maxi pickup available in single and double-cab form.

There remains a fiercely-fought three-way battle between the MG Midget, Mazda MX-5 and Toyota MR2 at the top of the roadster charts, with each offering a different layout and the Midget uniquely featuring front-wheel drive and Hydragas. The MGE was replaced by the MGF, which was based on the SD3 and continued in the same mould as its predecessor, but big RWD hatchback coupes became a thing of the past once Ford had discontinued the Capri. The MGF's replacement was thus re-focused as the Magnette, a two-door hard and soft top version of the Triumph Vanguard that is aimed at the Mercedes CLK and BMW 3-series Coupe. The grand tourer market is now occupied by the Jaguar XK that replaced the long-running XJS and is available in coupe and drophead forms, the XK600R doing battle at Le Mans against Aston Martin.

BL's flagship Grand Tourer, the Jaguar XK
(Image: Jaguar)

The latest generation of the Leyland Maxi van and pickup, along with the small Leyland Allegro van, continue to provide effective coverage of the light commercial vehicle segment. With Ford ill-advisedly moving Transit production to Turkey and the big fleets continuing their 'buy British' policy, the Leyland Sherpa was finally able to overtake its arch-rival and claim the number one spot in the van sales chart. Meanwhile, BL also maintain their dominance of the taxi market, the FX4 having been succeeded by the FX5 during the 1970s, and regular updates and replacements have resulted in the current Leyland FX8, newly available with the Crompton hybrid drive and still the archetypal London black cab.


As a result of so many years of successful development, the current 2017 British Leyland range would offer something for everyone, from the sub-£7000 Austin Metro 800 city car and the simple but good value Morris Marina 1.1 to the Range Rover Vogue SE and the Daimler XJ600 Double Six LWB at almost £150,000. The booming SUV and MPV market sectors are well covered by Land Rover and the Austin Major and Minor respectively, aspirational company car drivers are catered for by an exciting range of Triumphs and sports car enthusiasts can have the latest version of the evergreen MG Midget. All are market leaders that equal the best offered by the rest of the world and are proudly built in Britain by a British-owned company too! If only all this was true...